March 7, 2016

God is love vs. Love is god

In the New Testament letter of 1 John we find perhaps the most popular description of God: God is love. What does it mean that God is love?

Quite simply, it means that God is love personified. He is love, at its fundamental essence. As we grow in knowing the God of the Bible, we grow in knowing love. He is the very definition of love.

Is this how most people understand it? I honestly don’t think so. I think most people who hear that “God is love,” interpret it backwards as, “Love is god.” What is the difference?

A person who reads “God is love,” and interprets it so, understands that their idea of love is constantly under revision. Knowing God in the Scriptures is a lifelong process. We progressively know Him better and better as we submerse ourselves in the Word.

As we see God’s character more clearly, our understanding of love grows, and at times even changes. God is the concrete reality. Love is fluid. We hold our definition of love loosely, always ready to revise it as our relationship with God deepens.

No one knows God perfectly. If God is love, then by that very fact, love also cannot be fully comprehended. Love is not something we can grasp on our own. Love is revealed to us as God reveals Himself to us in the Bible.

Now, on the other hand, a person who reads “God is love,” but inaccurately interprets it as “Love is god” is in a very different position. This person holds their personal definition of love above the God of the Bible. Their definition of love is treated as the concrete thing. God becomes fluid.

I think this is how most people operate. They get their definition of love from the world: from friends, movies, music, books, and personal experience. Then they open the Bible and read it through that lens. Their idea of love is held with an iron grip. God is held loosely.

If a particular passage of Scripture describes God in a way that fits their definition of love, they accept it. If, instead, it describes God in a way that seems unloving (to them) they ask, “How could a loving God say or do this?” Of course, when they say “loving God,” they mean a God who loves according to their definition of it.

God is on the hot seat. Their definition of love is the judge.

From this perspective, it becomes clear that a person who functionally believes that Love is god is operating in arrogance. The hidden assumption is that their definition of love is complete. God is expected to fit their bill – to conform to their limited understanding of what love is.

In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on the importance of asking questions within Christianity. I think this is mostly good. This has primarily been encouraged by younger Christians who feel there is not a welcoming enough presence in the faith. They are not all wrong.

Asking questions to better understand God so we may submit to Him is a wonderful thing. But I’m not so sure this is what most of them mean. I think they mean something quite different. I hear this from them: ‘What we’ve found in the Bible doesn’t sit well with us.’ So they essentially ask, “Can’t we make it mean something else?”

Their own understanding of love, or freedom, or happiness is what drives them. That is their North Star. They have no interest in conforming themselves to the God of Scripture; they are far more interested in making adjustments to Him.

God is love. He is the concrete reality from which love flows. He defines it. He is it. God is the sentient being; love is one of His qualities. To know love, we must know the God of the Bible. And if He seems to contradict our definition of love, we must revise our definition – not Him.

Otherwise, let us be honest and just say, “Love, as I define it, is my god.” And, of course, worshiping something we can define is just another clever way of adoring the sovereign self.